Podium Bound - Week 3 & 4 Review

Due to life rearing its ugly head, I missed out on a timely review of week 3, but in some ways it's better since I now get to kill 2 weeks in one blog post!   Life tried its' best to derail my training, but I was having none of it! I was able to rearrange my schedule and complete as many workout as time would allow.  As always, when it comes to training, it's best to plan ahead and be flexible!

Week 3

Usually I start the week off with a swim, but having done a 1050 yard time trail on Sunday, I moved some things around and decided to do my bike workout first.  My swim partner (who doubles as my wife), had issues of her own so we decided we would try to swim later in the week.  My surgically repaired knee was also bothering me, so I front loaded the week with cycling and swimming to give it a rest.  I also included copious amounts of Ibuprofen and icing to help as much as possible.  Eventually, my run workouts rolled around on Thursday and Friday, and needless to say they were tough.  I stuck with it though, and even managed to get through my first brick workout of the week on Saturday.  My running was slower than usual, but I wanted to take it easy until I saw my orthopedist on the following Wednesday.  I ended the week with a lovely bike workout on Sunday and despite missing a swim and a strength session during the week, completed the vast majority of ny training sessions.  Not to mention the fact I squeezed in a bike handling clinic on Saturday morning!  Overall I would grade this a week a B-, but I get an A for effort!

Week 4

This week's schedule include the first challenging workouts since I began this training plan.  My work/life stress was showing no signs of abating, so I knew the challenge might just be getting to the workouts themselves.  The week started off on a bad note as I was deluged with meetings and my swim partner had tests to study for, so that coupled with the now longer swim workout convinced me to bite the bullet and skip this workout.  I had my first run workout with intervakls scheduled for Tuesday and with my knee still swollen with fluid I was not looking forward to it.  Despite that, I soldiered on and got through my first set of 200 meter intervals, at a surprisingly fast pace.  I couldn't wait to see my orthopedist the next day.

Wednesday arrived and it was like a summer day!  First stop the orthopedist.  I went in with my knee swollen and came out feeling like new.  Here's why:

Yeah, all that came out of 1 knee!  I took a break to let my knee enjoy feeling normal for a bit and grabbed some lunch.  Around 2pm I headed out for my first REAL brick workout of the training plan. The cycling portion was 65 minutes with 45 minutes in Zone 3 followed by a 15 minute transition run.  The run ended with about 500 meter very steep hill.  It was a tough workout and for the first time during this training plan I felt a bit sore afterwards.  It was a good sore, but sore none-the-less. I was sore enough the next day that my recovery run turned into 2 recovery walks.

I was back in the pool on Friday, but I got lazy and skipped my recovery bike workout.  Mind you, I did have my first race of the season the following day (race report soon!), but I really have no excuse, I just didn't feel like it, and knowing I had a hard day ahead helped me rationalize skipping the workout.  Would it have made a difference on race day, I doubt it, but still I don't really have any excuses.

All I am going to say is, "It went well".  Read the upcoming race report if you want all the details.

Sunday rolled around and I had 2 workouts on the calendar.  A long run in the morning, and a swim in the afternoon, this is my normal Sunday schedule.  Except I had neglected to realize that this particular Sunday, was Good Sunday!  So of course the pool was closed!  I definitely missed too many workouts this week.  The only saving grace was the increased intensity from the brick workout and the race.  So I'm going to only give myself a C+ this week.  Needless to say I will be better at sticking to the plan in Week 5.

 Week 5 is a bit of recovery week before I jump into my build phase.  I am looking forward to the increasingly tougher road ahead.

Thanks for reading!

Happy training!

Coach Rob.

Podium Bound - Week 2 Review

Week 2 started with a relatively easy swim.  This week was interesting because it's TEST WEEK!  FTP test, run test and swim test!  Here is how the week went.

Week 2

After starting the week with a successful swim, Next up was my power profile test.  I wasn't expecting a great result as my training stress was in the negative numbers.  Despite that, I still needed to get an idea of my current bike fitness.  First up in the power profile test is a test of my 5 second power (i.e.  my neuromuscular or sprint power).  I was able to tie my highest ever 5 second power, so I  was cautiously optomistic that I was in line for a decent test.  I probably should have waited until after the 5 minute VO2 max test because, mine was horrible!  I had never seen numbers anywhere close to being that low!  Now granted I have done absolutely no VO2 max workouts in the past 3 months, so I suppose this should not have been a surprise, but never-the-less it still came as a bit of a shock to me.  I thought this would not bode well for the FTP portion of the test, but to my surprise (again), my FTP increased by about 3% from my last test.  Not a huge increase, I know, but even small progress is progress.

Wednesday was a recovery ride (my legs thanked me) and a much need strength session.  I am only doing strength once per week right now so as to not to become fatigued from the increased work load. 

Thursday was time for my run test.  My knees had let me know all week this was not going to be a lot of fun.  I have a persistent problem with fluid on my left knee and when there is a significant amount of fluid built up it makes running tough.  After a 15 minute or so warm up, I started my run test.  Once again I was cognizant of the fact my straining stress was relatively high this week, so I had a somewhat lower expectation than the last time I did this test.  The test is basically a 5k run on the track.  I ran an 8:23 minutes per mile pace.  I good ways off from the 7:57 I had done back in November.  I didn't feel to bad about that, but I recognize I have a ton of work to do to get my run form back to where I want it to be.  I immediately iced my knees after the workout to make sure to keep the swelling down.  This has become somwehat of a ritual with me.  I am no longer kidding myself,  I don't have 25 year old knees anymore.

Friday was the first day since I started serious training that my training took a hit.  Basically work combined with other obligations made me miss my first swim workout.   I also had a recovery run due that day, and I managed to salvage something by doing a recovery walk in the early evening.   Mentally I was drained that day, better to get something in than nothing at all.

Saturday I was back on the bike for a 90 minute aerobic base building ride.  It was cold in the morning so I hopped on Zwift for 100 minutes and got a new route badge in the process.  I have now completed all the Zwift routes except for Four Horsemen (which is like 7,000 feet of climbing) and the PRL Full which is 107 miles.  Those 2 will have to wait until winter when I have nothing better to do.

Sunday was a two a day weekend, running and swimming.  My knee was still a bit unhappy from the run test so I shortened my Zone 2 run from 55 mintes down to a bit over 35 minutes.  I am easing up on the running until I get my knee drained.  Next up was my swim test.  1000 yards.  Of all the tests this is the worst, mostly due to the montony.  Swimming 40 laps in a 25 yard pool is SO BORING! (and also challenging to keep track of since I ended up swiming 1050 yards!).  My pace was less than stellar, but I was easily able to complete the distance which is reassuring.  I am still working on my body position which seems to go awry on some laps.  For instance, I average around 30 seconds per lap, but in looking over each lap during the 1000 yards, every so often there will be a 36, 37, or 38 second lap.  These "bad" laps really impact my overall time so I need to work on my form staying more consistent.

All in all not a bad week. I give myself a B+.   Getting ready for Week 3, increasing endurance and the first brick workout.  Should be.... fun?

Happy Training

Coach Rob